SCi renamed Eidos as buyout rumors swirl

By Tor Thorsen, GameSpotPosted Dec 2, 2008 1:57 pm PT

British publisher assumes subsidiary's moniker as demi-tabloid The Daily Mail restokes EA, Ubisoft takeover speculation.

As Atari touts its new lineup at today's UK event, another British publisher is also making headlines. This morning, cash-strapped SCi Entertainment announced that it was assuming the name of its subsidiary Eidos Interactive...minus the "Interactive." As of today, the company will be called simply Eidos, and its ticker symbol will change from SEG to EID on the London Stock Exchange.

Though the former SCi gave no reason for the name change, Eidos is a better-known brand, thanks to such series as Tomb Raider. In May 2005, SCi scooped up Eidos following a protracted bidding war with venture-capital firm Elevation Partners. Elevation went on to form superdeveloper BioWare/Pandemic and then sell it to Electronic Arts for $860 million in late 2007.

Speaking of buyouts, it appears the newly christened Eidos might be itself the subject of a takeover. On Sunday night, the British demi-tabloid The Daily Mail reported that "a source familiar with the matter" said the financially troubled publisher had received buyout overtures from Electronic Arts and Ubisoft. If that latter scenario sounds familiar, it should. In late 2007, rumors swirled that the Paris-based Tom Clancy publisher was courting then-SCi, along with Time Warner and an unnamed Chinese company.

34 Comments

  • just_nonplussed

    Posted Dec 5, 2008 3:57 pm PT

    isn't bono from U2 on the board of directors of eidos?
    if square acquires eidos does that mean U2 soundtracks to final fantasy 14? :0

  • king_bobo

    Posted Dec 3, 2008 11:16 pm PT

    Eidos make some amazing games - I want to see some sequels to games like Just Cause, Total Overdose, Time Splitters, Hitman and Deus Ex.

  • hatieshorrer

    Posted Dec 3, 2008 7:58 pm PT

    Tomb raider was a great game but Eidos failed to add enough new content in the sequals to make another game people wanted to buy. Because EA's thing is stunting the evolution of a game sequal tombraider will probably continue to be the same as the last.

  • pidow

    Posted Dec 3, 2008 4:30 pm PT

    WE must not let EA takeover the gaming world.

  • Ground_Zero

    Posted Dec 3, 2008 2:28 pm PT

    Adios Eidos

  • Timb3rWolf

    Posted Dec 3, 2008 12:32 pm PT

    Solution to there fiancial troubles: Time Splitters and Commandos 4 (but none of that take-a-step-backwards Commandos 3 or Commandos Front Lines RTS-FPS crap)

  • Media_Mind

    Posted Dec 3, 2008 10:01 am PT

    Wheres the new Time Splitters?

  • Lost_forgotten

    Posted Dec 3, 2008 7:21 am PT

    Yeah where is the new Legacy of Kain? Eidos is killing me not making a new one.

  • Quofan

    Posted Dec 3, 2008 7:14 am PT

    Urgh, the daily mail. Along with the daily express its one of those idiotic conservative newspapers that has you believe society will cause the world to end by 2012 and that Labour are somehow still left-wing despite having been New Labour since the mid-90's.

    Of the British papers that claims to be a source of real news, its one of the worst and least reliable by far.

    Was reading the daily express today and the only thing that qualifies as gaming news involves the death of a student who was burgled. They specifically HAVE to mantion that it was an Xbox 360 that was stolen, as if games are somehow at fault.

    I beg of you GS, stop quoting the "Diana paper."

  • kkee

    Posted Dec 3, 2008 7:00 am PT

    The Daily Mail, now this is epic fail. Eidos need to start making some good games.

  • echoside

    Posted Dec 3, 2008 6:12 am PT

    Lol agreed. Dont forget the Daily Star

  • tyzwain

    Posted Dec 3, 2008 6:07 am PT

    Lol The Daily Mail as a source? Why not go the whole hog and quote from The Sun. Over here the newspapers a joke, with headlines focusing on sex, immigrants and murders.

  • X-RS

    Posted Dec 3, 2008 5:57 am PT

    good god, please, not ea.

  • FlemmingM

    Posted Dec 3, 2008 5:14 am PT

    They should totally make a new Carmageddon

  • Gamingcucumber

    Posted Dec 2, 2008 11:48 pm PT

    I would love to see UbiSoft take them under their wings. I mean, in my eyes it's a perfect match. Lara Croft with Assassin's Creed creator? Deus Ex 3 in the hands of some very capable guys but with the financial backing finished?

    Anything over EA actually! But I think the best option would be UbiSoft.

  • Ra-Devil

    Posted Dec 2, 2008 11:34 pm PT

    All this talk of Ubisoft is making me want to play Beyond Good & Evil 2 more and more... GIVE ME BGE 2 ALREADY!!

  • Blackstaff

    Posted Dec 2, 2008 10:54 pm PT

    Oh please sell to Ubisoft if you sell to anyone, EA (while better than it was) is still Evil

    Also Ubisoft is far better at developing third person games (Assassin's creed, etc) so it would be a big boost to the Tomb Raider series, and we might see another Legacy of Kain!

  • cayne_phoenix

    Posted Dec 2, 2008 10:28 pm PT

    Vae Victus...

  • TPSISO9000

    Posted Dec 2, 2008 10:19 pm PT

    One word... Kain!

  • yboucher

    Posted Dec 2, 2008 8:20 pm PT

    Erm, Atari isn't British... only Phil Harrisson is...

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